And in this case, the same way is pretty much just as the books portray him. I think you are right to say you and I are in strong agreement there. The novels don't give the notion that he is some unhinderable, badass who can win all of the quests on his own, but they do portray him as a Power, within the confines of the Powers still visibly active in Middle Earth in The Third Age. He is portrayed as a being who is, even in his limited manlike form, mightier than a mortal, though that might was often hidden. He is portrayed as a formidable force to be reckoned with, even against daunting odds and Dark Powers.

I think that lay viewers of the film should see Gandalf in much the same way that the characters around him do. Initially, as just a mysterious old man with a reputation for adventure and uncanny cleverness and talents. Then, whether to entertain or to make a point, he performs some minor marvel (darkening a room, for example, or turning smoke rings into a flock of coloured smoke birds) that validates that reputation for the uncanny talents and cleverness. Later, in a pinch, he performs some reasonably marvellous feat which none of the rest of you (normal audience members and his companions alike) could have managed, and which you all know you couldn't have managed, and everyone comes to the recognition that he is not just a clever and erriely talented performance artist, he is indeed supernaturally powerful in a significant way. The notion solidifies that everyone is generally much safer with him than without him, and that, while he certainly cannot do everything (despite his amazing and, literally, thunderously dazzling escape from the goblins {which killed several of them} and subsequent dissapearance, he did not manage to keep Bilbo and the Dwarves from being captured, and while he later unleashed a torrent of confusion and pain upon the goblins, he didn't turn them all into ice sculptures with a wave and a whisper), he can do a lot more than most to break himself and those in his care out of a tight corner (indeed, the line in The Hobbit after that event says almost EXACTLY those words).

People are correct to say that Gandalf should not appear omnipotent or even virtually omnipotent. Yet it is also important that, in the grand scheme, he appear at first, a little mysterious and possessed of prodigious talents, and later that he appear powerful. Once characters in the novel see him in action, there is never any doubt that he is a powerful being. Whether it is Frodo and Sam, or Thorin, Aragorn and Faramir, all are aware that Gandalf wields great power. Thorin, Aragorn and Faramir are also well aware that he is a greater power than they. From the beginning, Thorin speaks of the quest for Erebor as one which might claim all of their lives, "with the exception of our friend and counsellor, the ingenious Wizard Gandalf." The dwarves are dismayed when Gandalf parts with them at Mirkwood's edge, and while part of that dismay was at the loss of his cleverness and knowledge as a guide, much of it certainly was due to the recognition that they were loosing the most potent and resourceful member of their company, and the one most likely and most able to pull their asses out of a fire. Aragorn and Faramir also comment on the power of Gandalf, and Rivendell is full of tales of his wondrous feats. If the spirit of the novels is to be maintained in portraying him, then the dynamic cannot be played in the way Fandragon and a few others have seemed to suggest, where, as in an Elder Scrolls or Fable game, a high level warrior is different but still roughly equal in power to a high level mage. Thorin, Aragorn and Faramir are mighty and noble warriors, but Gandalf is a Power, and he is mightier than they. Peter himself understands this, even if he did not always adequately convey it. In the 365 day calender for the Fellowship film, there is a line from Saruman which was evidently in the original script, but was edited out of the film, wherein he says, after Gandalf falls facing The Balrog, "The Gray Messenger is gone. His ragtag fellowship is leaderless. There is no one to protect them now." Celeborn's sentiment mirrors The White Wizard's assesment. "Without Gandalf hope is lost." Galadriel knows that there is still some hope, however diminished, but both Celeborn and Saruman recognize that no remaining member of The Fellowship is the equal of The Gray Pilgrim.

If, (and I say IF, as I will not know wheter this is how the scene will unfold until I either see it, or read a more detailed report from someone with an inside track), Bolg is, on his own and as an orc, portrayed as anything like a match for Gandalf, or a source of fear for Gandalf, it will diminish the Wizard, and it will be a troubling misrepresentation. When Gandalf is pressed in the novels it is always and invariably either by overwhelming odds (scores to hundreds of more common antagonists/monsters like wargs and orcs) OR by very highly ranked and particularly potent Dark Powers. I recall showing Fellowship to a lay friend, and when The Balrog showed up, and Gandalf turned to face him, the friend asked, disdainfully, "what is HE gonna do?" And as disgusted as I was, I understood how he came to his conclusion. Gandalf had displayed feats of power in the movie. . . but the only time he effectively did so was when he was overwhelming Bilbo. In the fights with Saruman, he did more than virtually anyone else would have been able to manage, but he lost in both instances AND, in the instance with Saruman's storm, he really isn't seen to have effected its course at all. He never performs an astounding feat of magic like Arwen seems to do. We know Arwen is almost certainly not as powerful as Gandalf. Hell, we know the horse waves and their riders were Gandalf's doing, his own enhancement on Elrond's spell. But a lay person comes away understandably thinking that maybe The Fellowship might have done better to take Arwen instead of the Wizard . By removing both Gandalf's lightning and fire wielding confrontation with The Nazgul, and the Wizard's fiery enchantment against the wargs, Peter effectively removed the main scenes in Fellowship where Gandalf both wields magic AND either routes or at least holds his own against significant foes. From a narrative standpoint they might not seem like enormous oversights, but as nothing replaces them, their absence leaves him looking much less potent than the novel portrays him.

I certainly hope the Hobbit does not take the same path. If Bolg is presented as, more or less, a yesteryear precursor version of Lurtz and Ugluk (albiet with a longer and more gruesome history), then he should not be put forth as a potential match for Gadalf. I think it is fair to say that you and I (and Mithrandir, and the others in our camp) are not interested in having Gandalf be turned into Zeus or even Thor. But we do want him to have all the powers and abilities that he wields in the books, and to have the scenes in which he displays them remain a part of the story.

In Reply To

I think you and I are pretty much on the same page as far as Gandalf is concerned and how we want PJ to portray him as an Istari in the movies.

"Hear me, hounds of Sauron, Gandalf is here! Fly if you value your foul skins, I will shrivel you from tail to snout if you step within this circle!"

"Do not be to eager to deal out death in judgement. Even the very wise cannot see all ends."